The almanac

Today is Monday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2009 with 94 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Venus. The evening stars are Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include Frances Willard, founder of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, in 1839; CBS Chairman William Paley in 1901; TV variety show host and columnist Ed Sullivan in 1901; heavyweight boxing champ Max Schmeling in 1905; cartoonist Al Capp (L'il Abner) in 1909; actors William Windom in 1923 (age 86) and Marcello Mastroianni in 1924; actress and animal rights advocate Brigitte Bardot in 1934 (age 75); musician Ben E. King in 1938 (age 71; actor Jeffrey Jones in 1946 (age 63); and actress Janeane Garofalo in 1964 (age 45) and Gwyneth Paltrow in 1972 (age 37).

On this date in history:

In 490 B.C., the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon. A Greek soldier named Phidippides ran more than 26 miles to tell Athenians of the victory and died after his announcement. His feat provided the model for the modern marathon race.

In 1892, Mansfield University was the home team for the first night football game at Smythe Park in Mansfield, Pa.

In 1920, in baseball's biggest scandal, a grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox players for throwing the 1919 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1982, the first reports appeared of deaths in the Chicago area from Extra-strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Seven people died and the unsolved case resulted in tamper-proof packaging for consumer products.

In 1987, a federal appeals court declared Boston public schools officially desegregated after a 13-year effort.

In 1989, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii.

In 1992, a Pakistan jetliner carrying 167 people, including three Americans, crashed into a hill southeast of Kathmandu, Nepal, killing all aboard. It was Nepal's worst air disaster.

In 1993, U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton was the administration's lead witness in congressional hearings on the proposed national healthcare program.

Also in 1993, as the power struggle in Russia intensified, the Interior Ministry sealed off the parliament building. Opponents to President Boris Yeltsin were holed up inside.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat signed "phase two" of their peace agreement in Washington.

In 2000, right-wing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon visited the sacred site known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Haram al Sharif to Muslims, sparking a deadly round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that continued to escalate over the next two years.

In 2001, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to require all members to put a stop to financing and training of terrorists within their borders.

In 2003, legendary Broadway and film director Elia Kazan died at his home in New York at the age of 94.

In 2004, the price of oil topped $50 a barrel for the first time in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In 2005, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the U.S. House of Representatives majority leader, was indicted in Texas for allegedly conspiring to violate a state fundraising law.

In 2006, in a move boosting support for the Afghan government, NATO voted to dramatically expand operations in Afghanistan.

In 2007, the U.S. Senate joined the House of Representatives in defying a veto threat from President George Bush to approve an expansion of the child health insurance program. The bill would spend about $35 billion to expand health insurance to more than 4 million children.

In 2008, U.S. congressional negotiators and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed on a $700 billion banking industry bailout plan. It gave the Treasury unprecedented authority, including the ability to buy a range of troubled financial assets.

A thought for the day: U.S. writer Gertrude Stein said, "... the creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic."